Having the common data set is vital for next generation analytics

Most of the companies, especially Finance and Energy are still looking at dated reports which are compiled manually instead of taking the assistance of Business Intelligence. Only a few percent of companies show interest in dashboards, scorecards and analytics techniques or use investigative and proactive techniques.

For most of the companies reactive analyses and after-the-fact evaluation are the primary means to analyze data. They are depending on periodic reports, manual data manipulation and spreadsheets, which can constraint their ability to conduct active analysis.Only a few companies adapt advanced Business Intelligence practices such as predictive analysis and forecasting. Remaining companies fill their reporting needs through data cleansing tools and manual extraction. They depend on department-specific Business Intelligence techniques, relaying on daily, weekly or monthly-generated results. Their primary means of reporting is through static reporting, where most of the analyst time is expended on moving data from different databases to spreadsheets and then analyzing it.

It is very hard to bring a change in a way the business works and the current way of analyzing data is not changing any time soon. The current way of disparate analysis take lot of time but the analysts who perform that became expert in their specific areas. Also, some work needs to be done for developing a common business model that fulfills all the requirements and bringing the data together. So companies are using analytical tools like Tableau, Cognos, Microstrategy and Business Objects.When different groups are working on different datasets, they get insights but at the expense of more time and manpower.On the other hand, when all the data is organized and presented in the form of a common data structure, every analyst will beeffective and the results can be delivered a lot faster. Also, delivering data through a common system rather than depending on multiple spreadsheets also reduces the dependence on single person who is working on that specific data set.

Running operations from it is the ultimate goal of Business Intelligence. But, that is not going to happen in near future.Many companies feel that they are implementing business analytics and their analysts are really good at what they do, but a common data set is needed in order to perform next level analysis. Once the data is organized and the company implements real time analytics, more ‘what-if?’ analysis can be done, trends can be observed, patterns can be detected which helps the company to forecast and take better business decisions.

SaiKiran Kadam is an Analyst working with Mordor Intelligence, a market research consulting firm which specializes in Market Research Consulting, Market Research Reports, Market Sizing Reports, Industry Research Reports.